4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Worst nightmare: A 14-year-old girl asleep in her bed around 4am June 7 is shot and wounded in her 700-block Prospect Avenue home. The teen is in stable condition, and no arrest of the shooter has been made at press time.
Most unusual child porn arrest: A woman, Brittney M. Demmer, 28, is charged June 3 with 10 counts of possession of videos of illegal deeds involving prepubescent children and is released on $4,000 bond.
Worst news to hear in a child porn arrest: Demmer is a former employee of Foundations Child Development Center on Berkmar Drive.
Worst crash: Greene sheriff's investigator Chadwick Alan Carr, 31, is killed in a fiery crash June 4 on Route 230 around 1:20pm after he loses control of his vehicle and is T-boned by an oncoming tractor trailer.
Worst week for overturned tractor trailers: Besides the accident above, another truck overturns on U.S. 29 near Ruckersville June 4, and a sawdust-carrying tractor trailer spills its load June 3 on U.S. 29 near I-64. A big rig loaded with 55,000 pounds of ground beef bites it on I-64 around 3am June 6 after a tire blows near mile marker 121, and the road isn't cleared until 1:30pm.
Most tickets: Albemarle police write 1,192 summons during the two-week Click It or Ticket campaign from May 18 to 31 that included two safety checkpoints and stops of 1,812 vehicles. The enforcement nabs 35 seatbelt violators.
Worst embezzling story: Dennis Steljes Jr. is indicted June 1 with ripping off $12,000 from the Little League for which he was bookkeeper and he faces one count of embezzlement and 10 of fraud in Albemarle. Steljes denies allegations that he took the money or falsified reports, according to Tasha Kates in the Daily Progress.
Most unexpected deaths: Carol Whitehead, 60, co-founder of the Rutherford Institute, dies June 3. Dr. Jim Knight, 61, former chairman of the board and chief of medicine at Martha Jefferson Hospital, falls off a ladder while trimming trees at his church June 6. Mark E. Fletcher, 57, UVA intramural/recreation chief, dies June 8 after a morning run.
Most judicial deaths: Retired Charlottesville General District Court Judge D. B. Marshall dies June 7, as does retired Charlottesville Circuit Court Judge Herbert A. Pickford III at his home on the same day.
Biggest move: Local institution/after-hours Club 216 says farewell to Water Street and heads to the Old Michie Building on Market Street, opening there June 19.
Most viewers: An international crowd catches the Western Albemarle High Commencement June 5 streaming live on the Internet. Of the 179 viewers tuning in, 12 are in Canada, 12 in the U.K., and two each watch from Ireland, Colombia and Romania, according to a release.
Latest fireworks crisis: The group that swooped in to save Fourth of July fireworks in McIntire Park in 2002 is throwing in the towel after this year, citing fundraising difficulties.
Best news for County water users: In a major change, the water board, the Albemarle County Service Authority, scales back its previously proposed 12 percent increase in water/sewer rates to a more modest level of about one percent for fiscal year 2010 for average users. Households that use more than 9,000 gallons of water a month will pay a rate four times as high as the most sparing users. Brandon Shulleeta has the story in the DP.
Best time to cruise Skyline Drive: On June 20-21, when the National Park Service waives the usual $15-a-car to enter Shenandoah National Park. Admission is also free July 18-19 and August 15-16, but this freebie does not apply to Sherando Lake, which is in the George Washington National Forest, and national forests are not under the National Park Service. Got it?
Best baseball team: UVA defeats Ole Miss in two out of three games at the Cavs' first super regional, and now heads to its first College World Series June 13 in Omaha.
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